


The Issue with Fame (and other problems)

by lavendrlies



Series: Superpowered Dumbasses - Powers AU [4]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Brutal Murder, Death Threats, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Familial Saiibo, Family Secrets, Fluff and Angst, Miscommunication, Multi, Mystery, POV Alternating, Pining, Protective Siblings, Secrets, Slow Build, anything and everything else is background, as per usual, it's a mixed bag basically, that's the kiibouma, that's the saimota
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2020-12-14 15:47:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21018272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavendrlies/pseuds/lavendrlies
Summary: "What would you do," Kiibo whispered, his gaze cast downwards. "If you had to give up something important to you, to save me?"Kokichi laughed lightly, wrapping his arms around him from behind. "Well, that simply wouldn't work. You're the most important thing to me, after all."(Alternatively: Shuichi is battling to keep his work and personal life seperate in the wake of a new case, Kaito is trying to help while unknowingly being a catalyst, Kokichi is hoarding secrets that are dangerous to keep, and Kiibo is in the eye of the storm.)





	1. Prologue

Kokichi had long since gotten used to sleeping lightly, but that didn't mean he liked being woken at an ungodly hour by the sound of his phone. 

He groaned as he untangled from the warmth he was clinging to, somewhat disoriented as he leaned over Kiibo, grappling at the bedside table for his phone. His sluggish brain reeled at the brightness of the screen, and by the time his eyes adjusted, he had missed the call. Kokichi huffed, before checking the time and the caller. 

4:01am. Haru.

He pouted, wondering if it was too late to forget about the call altogether and go back to sleep. But he knew that it was unlikely for Haru to call if it wasn't something of some importance, so he reluctantly decided to call back.

He shifted up to lean against the headboard of the bed, reaching out to gently stroke Kiibo's hair as he waited for Haru to pick up. It took three rings.

"What's up, nerd?" He greeted as he stifled a yawn, unable to hide the subtle annoyance in his tone. Haru chuckled lightly.

"Sorry for waking you, Boss." His voice indicated that he felt no remorse in the slightest. "But we just got a message."

"That all?" Kokichi mused in faux irritation, eyes tracing the peacefulness of Kiibo's sleeping features. "This couldn't have waited until a normal waking hour?"

"Since when did you start operating under normal waking hours?" Haru teased back, before the conversation grew somber. He could hear his desk chair creak from a shift in weight. "It was those fuckers again."

Kokichi's fingers paused in their fiddling of Kiibo's hair to avoid the unsavory alternative of gripping it. He bristled, his own tone darkening. "Just ignore it. They probably just said the same shit as always."

He could sense Haru hesitating on the other end of the line. "Are you sure? They keep trying to contact you. The messages might be different."

"Yeah, I doubt it." He scoffed, ignoring the tiny specks of doubt that plagued his mind. "File it away. Or destroy it, for all I care. I don't want to see or hear anything about it."

Silence stretched between them. Then, Haru sighed. "Fine. Got it, Boss."

And with that, Kokichi allowed himself to soften. The threat of that particular topic gone, he returned to petting his boyfriend's hair. "I can tell you're pulling an all-nighter. Get to bed, Ru. That's an order."

Haru snorted, the sound of shuffling seeping through the speaker. "If you say so. Sorry for wakin' you, Kokichi."

"Don't apologise either!" He huffed, and despite the furrow of his brow, there was no weight in his words. "Just go sleep. Don't worry about the message. We can deal with those at a later date."

Haru laughed, and Kokichi could tell he was shaking his head. "Night."

"Night." He parroted back, before ending the call. He swallowed a yawn as he rubbed an eye, leaning back over Kiibo to put his phone back on the bedside table and turn on the small lamp. 

"What was that all about?" He startled slightly, but was quick to relax. Kiibo's voice was gravelly with sleep, with an air of softness. Kokichi leaned back against the headboard, idly rubbing strands of hair between his fingers as he watched Kiibo's eyes slowly flicker open. Sleep dazed blue wandered over his face, an action that was surprisingly comforting.

"Oh, my lackeys were calling to let me know the bombs are in place. We're planning to overthrow the government by causing mass hysteria." He replied, paired with a bright grin and wild hand gestures. Kiibo merely blinked slowly in clear disbelief, and after a moment of no response, Kokichi giggled as his hand returned to massaging his scalp. "Just kidding! It wasn't anything important. Everyone just likes annoying me."

"I see they take after you." Kiibo murmured playfully, earning a dramatic gasp from the other. He shifted to rest his head against Kokichi's thigh, leaning into his fingers. There was something sharp and analytical in his gaze, a glimmer of concern. "You can tell me if something's wrong. I'm happy to listen."

Kokichi was quiet for a moment, perhaps in thought, before laughing breathlessly. "Go back to sleep, little sheep." He hummed, brushing hair out of Kiibo's face.

"What about you? You should sleep too." Kiibo pointed out sternly, and Kokichi found the insistence equal parts endearing and difficult. He hummed once more, leaning over for the final time to turn off the lamp and wriggling down into a lying position. He began to wrap his arms around Kiibo's torso, tangling their legs. Kiibo, used to this octopus cuddling, simply wrapped his arms around Kokichi's frame and pressed a kiss to his temple.

"Happy?" The thief mocked as he nuzzled closer to his boyfriend. Kiibo crooned quietly into his hair, quite ready to drift back to sleep. Kokichi didn't try keeping him awake longer, simply basking in the domestic warmth as he followed the rise and fall of Kiibo's chest.

* * *

Shuichi always found it odd to wake up to an empty apartment. It had been happening more often since he discovered Kiibo's relationship - his brother seemed to enjoy going off to spend the night at his boyfriend's house. At the very least, it meant it was easier for him to get away with not eating breakfast. A terrible habit, he was well aware, but he couldn't force himself to eat when he wasn't hungry.

The only silver lining to this morning was that he had no time to dwell on the emptiness of the apartment when he was woken at 6am by his phone ringing.

His eyebrows furrowed as his conscious returned to the sound of his ringtone. He frowned but reached for the phone on instinct, barely managing to unplug it from the charging cable as his mind caught up with reality. 

"Saihara speaking." He murmured as soon as he answered the call, muffling a yawn with the back of his hand as he sat up. 

"Shuichi, you've got to come in immediately. It's an emergency." He recognised the agency secretary's voice, and felt a chill of anxiety run down his spine, shaking his fatigue off. 

"On it." He got up, running a hand through his hair as he hurried off to the bathroom. "Can I get a brief of what kind of problem it is?"

Masumi let out a shuddering breath as she stalled. Shuichi briefly inspected the bags under his eyes in the mirror as he waited for her response, his free hand digging its nails into his palm.

"Murder. One of the worst cases I've seen in a while."

Shuichi's mouth dried as his heart dropped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here! We! Go!
> 
> So finally, here's the main story. The focus is going to shift frequently between focus on Saimota and focus on Kiibouma but they all center around the same main plot. Kiibouma will most likely be more prominent though, because they're already established.


	2. 1 : Murder cases tend to cause paranoia and unrest

The familiar smell of paint and plastic wrapped in dust greeted Kiibo as he entered the workshop. He never had an issue with coming in early, rather happy that longer hours meant more work could get done. Unfortunately, since spending nights with Kokichi, it got harder to get up in the morning. Not due to lack of trying - more so because Kokichi was stubborn and clingy in the morning, and often spent longer than necessary trying to convince Kiibo to simply not go to work.

Alas, even if he wanted to, Kiibo was well aware that Miu would find some way to track him down and bite his head off if he didn't have a good excuse. As vulgar as she was, over the many years Kiibo has known her, he knew that Miu was passionate and scarily serious when it came down to inventing. 

Still, taking the aforementioned stubbornness into account, perhaps a tiny bit of lateness was acceptable. He couldn't hear the whirr of saws or any other obvious sounds of construction, and automatically assumed that Miu was spending the morning creating plans and blueprints. He let his backpack fall from his shoulder, hesitantly approaching the corner in which the entrance corridor spread out into open space. He steeled himself, before marching forward, making a beeline to his desk to deposit his bag. 

As soon as he stepped out, he felt Miu's attention on him, and he couldn't say he was surprised by the conversation starter he received. "Hey, I can get private time with my girls too and still get to work on time. Don't start slackin' on me now, Kiibo!"

Kiibo rolled his eyes, sitting down heavily in his desk chair but relaxing subconsciously at the light grin on Miu's face. She wasn't mad about his tardiness. "It's not like that. Besides, I'm sure the only reason you get here on time is because Maki threatens to take away your bed privileges if you don't." This was a certainty, because Kiibo could easily recall many early winter mornings, when Miu would drag herself into the workshop with a whined complaint surrounding her girlfriend.

Miu sniffed at that, turning back to her blueprints and tapping her pencil against the desk. "He's a bad influence on you. When did you start being a sassy shit?" 

Kiibo smiled lightly at her as he powered up his laptop, unpacking his notebooks. "I'm not sassy - just honest. And my honesty isn't a new thing, you know that." He flipped through the books, glancing quickly over calculations and notes, trying to figure out what he wanted to work on today. His flipping landed on a small companion robot he had been trying to develop for a while. He got his sketchbook, full of unfulfilled sketches of different kinds of robots and began to assess the sketches he had made before. "How's your recent project going?" He asked, all friendliness as he typed in his laptop password as prompted.

"Oh yeah!" Miu sounded excited, and he could sense her wide grin even with his back turned, prompting another smile of his own. "I'm super close to the test stage." She hesitated, before giggling sheepishly, shyness rearing its head despite years of friendship. "Speaking of which..."

"You want me to act as a test subject?" Kiibo finished, familiar with this situation. He turned to a fresh page of his sketchbook, resolving to making an updated, cleaner sketch of his robot.

Miu laughed, suddenly back to high energy and cockiness. "Since you offered, of course. I'll grant you the honour of testing out my latest invention."

The boy shook his head, an affectionate gesture as he sighed and resigned himself to fate. He focused on his sketch, and he could hear Miu begin to measure shapes out of metal sheets. Silence lapsed between them, though it was rather comfortable. They continued to work quietly, and it wasn't until Miu began to work with the circular saw that she broke it. "Wanna listen to the radio?" 

Kiibo made a distracted noise, before shrugging and glancing at her over his shoulder. "I don't mind. I don't think we'd be able to hear it over the saw, though." 

"After I'm done with the saw, then." She groaned, glaring at him without any real fire. "I'm starting to think I work better with background noise."

"You're only figuring that out now?" He asked playfully, as if it were the most obvious thing he'd ever heard. Miu huffed, but didn't respond as Kiibo got to work at trying to figure out ideal measurements. He briefly considered making a mock model out of cardboard to check the proportions and got up to scavenge from their hoard of materials.

By the time he started to cut out the cardboard, Miu must have finished her incessant metal cutting because the radio crackled on. He listened absentmindedly as he worked, more focused on his work than the news reports Miu had tuned into. 

"A woman was found dead in the early hours of this morning at-" That, understandably, caught his attention. He looked up in alarm, and he noticed Miu pause in her work to listen too. Murders, while certainly something that happened, weren't common so close to home. 

She hooked her arm over the back of her desk chair, pointing at the radio as she leaned back. "You think your brother's on this shit?"

Kiibo tapped his pencil against his lips as he thought, listening to the brief report. It was short, but understandably so - the corpse had only just been discovered, so there were no real culprits yet. "Probably. He has experience on murder cases, so he's more likely in that regard, but it may also be dependant on if he accepted the case, or if the agency has ties with the police." He gave a hum, narrowing his eyes as he tilted his head back. "I think they do? It's likely."

"Huh." Miu clicked her tongue, before turning back to her work. "Guess you'll find out after work, then." She paused, before tacking on with an impish grin. "If you don't run off to fu-"

He spluttered wordlessly to cut her off before she could finish her sentence, before settling on the most effective retort, offense bleeding into his tone. "Miu!"

* * *

Shuichi nibbled his bottom lip in thought as he assessed the situation. The body was found in an alleyway, directly off a main road. From what he could see now, and with his experience of the road itself, it was frequently busy with cars constantly shuttling past and a pavement swarming with pedestrians despite the sectioned off crime scene. There was a train station a few minutes away by foot, if his memory served him correctly. By all means, someone should have noticed a scuffle, even in the middle of the night. The area was far from deserted.

He turned to the caution tape across the road from where he had parked, police stood on guard to make sure the crime scene wouldn't be tampered with before Shuichi's arrival. He took another procrastinating glance around the area, before checking his pockets to make sure his ID was on hand. Then, closing his eyes to calm himself and doing his best to enter a stoic mindset like his mother displayed when faced with homicide cases, he swiftly crossed the street.

He was given clearance to enter the crime scene and winced as he finally met the victim, a shiver shooting down his spine. The smell was horrid. The detective averted his attention to the alleyway itself, bringing out his notepad and deciding to approach the scene systematically. Environment first, body later. He noted a lack of drag marks, indicating that the victim's body most likely hadn't been moved from where they died. He wandered down the alley, pointedly ignoring the corpse as he checked for any possible places for a weapon to have been deposited. He had no idea if this had been a planned murder, or an indiscriminate one - the police had yet to confirm the identity of the victim, so he had no immediate suspects.

Not finding anything of interest, he sighed heavily and pulled a pair of plastic gloves from his pocket. Pulling them on, he mentally braced himself before turning to the body.

Ignoring the obvious wounds and blood, the woman seemed relatively average. She had long blonde hair, ruined with dried blood. Shuichi was, morbidly, reminded of Kaede, who had similar blond hair, and took a deep breath before shaking the thought from his head. His gaze hardened as he examined her further, honing in on the wounds. Her neck was cut open, in what looked like two seperate stabs. He furrowed his eyebrows, gazing upon her sympathetically as he took note of the obvious brutality of the stab wounds. It suggested a struggle, of course. He couldn't imagine dying without a struggle in the absence of any sedatives. 

The slit throat was most likely the cause of death, if only from a logical standpoint, as it would remove the possibility of screaming. Perhaps that's why the stab wounds appeared frantic? Because the killer was hoping to ensure as little noise as possible? Slit throat aside, the torso was littered with a variety of stab wounds that seemed unnecessary when running under the assumption that the slit throat was the cause of death. While it was possible the torso wounds were performed first, implying a personal hatred towards the victim, the blood loss would make the slit throat redundant. 

Shuichi kneeled down, hesitating momentarily. It had been a decent amount of time since he had last handled a dead body, but it equally wasn't a new experience. He checked her pockets, finding keys and a wallet in one; all standard items. He briefly checked the wallet, finding that nothing seemed to have been stolen. There was no form of identification to reference, and Shuichi toyed with the idea that the killer may have taken that to slow him down. It was unlikely for them to think that far, but still a tiny possibility. 

He set both the wallet and keys aside as he moved to check the other pocket, finding a phone which didn't raise much suspicion. He paused as his fingers met paper, and frowning lightly, fished it out between two fingers. His breath hitched as he recognised smears of dried blood on the surface, and unfolded it quickly.

Nausea rose in his throat. "What a tragedy," it read in typed text, with a smiling face scribbled beside it. The blatant lack of remorse mocked him, and Shuichi was quick to set it aside as evidence. The culprit was smart enough to avoid their own handwriting, and it was growing obvious that this was a planned murder. Whether the victim was intended or not was a different story, and one he'd have to figure out as soon as possible. 

He rose to his feet, pushing down the bitter feeling rolling in his gut. There weren't many leads, and while he could have the paper tested for fingerprints, he didn't have high hopes. After another glance around the area and a moment to review the notes he made, he turned to the officers guarding the crime scene. 

"I'm done here." He announced, ignoring the stiffness in his own shoulders as he peeled off his gloves. He wanted to check the CCTV feed of the nearby buildings to see if anything came up, just to feel like he was making progress while the identity of the victim was confirmed.

* * *

Kaito hummed cheerfully as he glided through the air, galaxy cape fluttering behind him. The sky was cloudy with threat of rain, but he was more focused on his destination. In the distance, he could see a familiar figure stood on the roof of an apartment block. Under closer inspection, she appeared to have her arms crossed and he realised that he must be running late. Wincing, he pushed himself faster through the air, coming down to land smoothly next to Maki with a sheepish grin, to counter her raised eyebrow.

"Sorry, didn't realise I was running late for patrol." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck before he looked out over the city. "So, do you wanna take the left half or right?"

Maki rolled her eyes, but didn't comment. The mild displeasure on her face spoke volumes. "I'll take left." She murmured, fixing the hood of her vigilante outfit. "Make sure not to look too suspicious. Everyone's paranoid now because of the murder, and I'm not going to bail you out of jail."

Kaito made a dismissive gesture, gaze inevitably wandering back up to the clouds. They still had a few hours before sunset, but the incoming clouds made it darker. "I know, I know. And hey," He smiled, glancing back at his partner. "Shuichi wouldn't let me get arrested."

She scoffed, returning her arms to their crossed position across her chest. "Shuichi wouldn't be able to stop anything if you got arrested, you idiot. He's a detective, not a lawyer." This prompted a chuckle from Kaito, a sound tinged with mild embarrassment. She watched him for a few moments, before bringing up the inevitable question. "Speaking of Shuichi, has he spoken to you about the murder?"

Kaito blinked, seemingly caught off guard despite knowing that they had to actually discuss the recent murder eventually. They were a vigilante duo after all, and murder was a huge crime to happen right under their noses. He sat down at the edge of the roof, letting his feet hang over the edge. "I could ask you the same thing. He's your friend too." He pointed out as Maki reluctantly moved to follow him in sitting down.

"Yeah, but I have a feeling he'd trust you more with details." She replied, staring down at the people milling below them, going about their days blissfully unaware of the eyes above them. Kaito, however, didn't seem happy with this response, as he frowned and nudged Maki with his elbow. 

"Hey, c'mon, Shu trusts you too!" He argued back, eyes full of determination and warmth, and while Maki appreciated the concern, she couldn't hold back her huff.

"I'm not saying that to put myself down. You two are just closer, and I'm not upset about that." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear with a faint smile, looking away from the moron beside her. "I have more girlfriends than both of you to keep me company."

"Hey, that's not fair." Kaito argued back, and though she knew he wouldn't admit it, the hero was definitely pouting. "We'll get our own girlfriends eventually. You just got luckier than us when it comes to the romance department."

Maki stared at him for a few moments, burning holes into Kaito's skin. Then, with a hint of amusement in her tone, she sighed. "You're a moron." 

"What's that supposed to mean, Maki Roll?" He quipped back, light and friendly. He shifted, resting his chin in his hand as he watched Maki shake her head with a sigh.

"I meant what I said." She stated bluntly, before glaring at him. Perhaps such a glare would have made a lesser man recoil, but Kaito had been friends with her for a long while now. Hell, they had even dated once upon a time, if only very briefly before realising they were better as friends. He was more than used to her. "Anyway, we're off topic. Shuichi."

He leaned back on his hands at the prompt, allowing the breeze to whistle through their ears, before finally relenting. "Shu called me earlier to say he couldn't meet up for lunch. He said he's on the case, and that it was pretty fucked up so he wanted to make headway as soon as possible, but not much else. "

Maki nodded in thought. That was unbelievably vague, and though she understood that legally, Shuichi shouldn't necessarily be updating them on his progress anyway, especially when knowing their vigilante status, it was still frustrating. She wondered if she should take a look around the area of the crime scene - that was on her side of the patrol and she had better sneaking skills than her partner. 

Speaking of her partner, Kaito, after allowing a beat of silence to wash over them, added with a bright smile. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to drag him away from the case every so often. Gotta make sure he doesn't overwork himself!"

She snorted humorlessly, well aware that trying to pry Shuichi from his work when he was in the detective mindset was a tall order. "Good luck with that." She stood up, brushing her pants idly as people tend to do after sitting on the ground. "Now are we going on patrol or not?"

Kaito followed her example, getting up and placing his hands on his hips. The sky was grey above them, and September rain gradually began to fall. "Of course, sidekick! Meet back up here?"

"Where else would it be?" She shot back with a curl of her lips, a circle of glowing red coordinates forming around her feet as her eyes shone similarly. Then, in a blink of an eye, she was gone.

* * *

"You sure this is a good idea, Boss?" 

Kokichi didn't respond for a few moments, busy buttoning up his suit jacket, before sending Minato his best glare. "Are you questioning my authority, Minny?" He squinted, both hands on his hips. 

Minato shrugged, before flashing a toothy grin. "Kinda, yeah." 

The other gasped dramatically, pretending to faint. "Oh, the blasphemy! The horror! How dare you question me, your great leader!" Minato simply shook his head in response, handing Kokichi his mask.

"I'm just sayin'. Are you sure it's a good idea to be performing a heist so soon after a murder? Wouldn't that, I dunno, implicate us or something?" He explained, and Benjiro, who was set to drive them out, pointed at him from the doorway with an incline of his head.

"He's got a point."

Kokichi exhaled, turning to the two. "Look, we've been planning this heist for months-"

"It literally took a week." Minato interjected, only to go ignored.

"-And the circumstances are good! Everyone is distracted by the murder, obviously, so nobody will care if a painting or two goes missing."

"Some people have weird priorities, Kichi." Benjiro argued gently from the doorway, and Kokichi responded by positioning his mask onto his face. 

"Yeah, well, they're still not going to stop me from stealing the paintings, are they?" Minato, in response, made a shaky hand movement and shrugged once more. 

"Eh, that's debatable. Who knows how the cops work." He shifted to lounge against the wall, looking much too casual in a conversation of possible arrest, when considering the fact he was the one who brought up said concern. "They're on high alert. Maybe they'll crack down on all crime so they don't seem incompetent."

Kokichi pouted, and the two engaged in a staring contest before the leader sighed, deflating momentarily. "Look, do you wanna go or not?"

His eyes showed genuine concern even if his expression didn't. He was offering them a chance to actually shut the heist down, and they both knew it from experience. Benjiro and Minato shared a glance for a few long moments, before the former slowly moved out of the doorway. He ambled off down the hallway, calling over his shoulder as he waved without glancing back. 

"I'll go get the van keys."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S A WHOLE NEW YEAR AND I'M BACK
> 
> I had this chapter sitting in the back burner for a while now, but I finally sat down and got it done! Might as well take this moment to say that the POV will mainly alternate between Kaito, Shuichi, Kokichi and Kiibo, but it isn't necessarily restricted to just those four (for example: the brief switches to Maki's thoughts throughout the rooftop scene).


End file.
